With his kid playing in college it can't hurt to put your name out there and make sure people have you on the mind when your son is trying to make a career.

maybe but i think the name says it all when it comes to barry sanders jr. i think reg joe might be on the right track. maybe barry wants to get some facetime so he s more identifiable for endorsements, and possibly for the ladies...

I think you're reading too deep into it. Rao may be right about publicity for jr, but I think it's more about "empty nest" more than anything else. To the best of my knowledge he never became a business owner, or founded any major charities, now that there is nothing at home, why not go out more and live up the glory days? At this point I see it as more of something for him to do, than raise any publicity.

We're talking about a guy who drove to practice in an old powder blue POS ford tempo hatchback well into his 4th year of his career! Lol he's never been a " for me" kind of guy.

_________________2013 Lionbacker Fantasy Football Champion

April 27th, 2013, 1:06 pm

The Legend

HC – Jim Caldwell

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4699Location: WSU

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

regularjoe12 wrote:

The Legend wrote:

rao wrote:

With his kid playing in college it can't hurt to put your name out there and make sure people have you on the mind when your son is trying to make a career.

maybe but i think the name says it all when it comes to barry sanders jr. i think reg joe might be on the right track. maybe barry wants to get some facetime so he s more identifiable for endorsements, and possibly for the ladies...

I think you're reading too deep into it. Rao may be right about publicity for jr, but I think it's more about "empty nest" more than anything else. To the best of my knowledge he never became a business owner, or founded any major charities, now that there is nothing at home, why not go out more and live up the glory days? At this point I see it as more of something for him to do, than raise any publicity.

We're talking about a guy who drove to practice in an old powder blue POS ford tempo hatchback well into his 4th year of his career! Lol he's never been a " for me" kind of guy.

thats what you think but he retired bc he was pissed off at the front office for letting certain guys that didnt have much left go and for finally canning wayne fontes. he faxed his retirement to some newspaper in kansas city and left for london the night before training camp. i dont care about his words, his actions indicate he s not so innocent.

April 27th, 2013, 1:24 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

The Legend wrote:

regularjoe12 wrote:

The Legend wrote:

rao wrote:

With his kid playing in college it can't hurt to put your name out there and make sure people have you on the mind when your son is trying to make a career.

maybe but i think the name says it all when it comes to barry sanders jr. i think reg joe might be on the right track. maybe barry wants to get some facetime so he s more identifiable for endorsements, and possibly for the ladies...

I think you're reading too deep into it. Rao may be right about publicity for jr, but I think it's more about "empty nest" more than anything else. To the best of my knowledge he never became a business owner, or founded any major charities, now that there is nothing at home, why not go out more and live up the glory days? At this point I see it as more of something for him to do, than raise any publicity.

We're talking about a guy who drove to practice in an old powder blue POS ford tempo hatchback well into his 4th year of his career! Lol he's never been a " for me" kind of guy.

thats what you think but he retired bc he was pissed off at the front office for letting certain guys that didnt have much left go and for finally canning wayne fontes. he faxed his retirement to some newspaper in kansas city and left for london the night before training camp. i dont care about his words, his actions indicate he s not so innocent.

You think he was wrong for giving up on an inept organization?

I wouldn't say that Jeff Hartings "didn't have much left...."

His words when he retired were "we're not offensive minded, we're not defensive minded... I don't know what we are..." He was fed up, and I can't blame him. And it wasn't Fontes getting canned that did it... It was our BS front office.

April 27th, 2013, 1:49 pm

The Legend

HC – Jim Caldwell

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4699Location: WSU

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

wjb21ndtown wrote:

The Legend wrote:

regularjoe12 wrote:

The Legend wrote:

rao wrote:

With his kid playing in college it can't hurt to put your name out there and make sure people have you on the mind when your son is trying to make a career.

maybe but i think the name says it all when it comes to barry sanders jr. i think reg joe might be on the right track. maybe barry wants to get some facetime so he s more identifiable for endorsements, and possibly for the ladies...

I think you're reading too deep into it. Rao may be right about publicity for jr, but I think it's more about "empty nest" more than anything else. To the best of my knowledge he never became a business owner, or founded any major charities, now that there is nothing at home, why not go out more and live up the glory days? At this point I see it as more of something for him to do, than raise any publicity.

We're talking about a guy who drove to practice in an old powder blue POS ford tempo hatchback well into his 4th year of his career! Lol he's never been a " for me" kind of guy.

thats what you think but he retired bc he was pissed off at the front office for letting certain guys that didnt have much left go and for finally canning wayne fontes. he faxed his retirement to some newspaper in kansas city and left for london the night before training camp. i dont care about his words, his actions indicate he s not so innocent.

You think he was wrong for giving up on an inept organization?

I wouldn't say that Jeff Hartings "didn't have much left...."

His words when he retired were "we're not offensive minded, we're not defensive minded... I don't know what we are..." He was fed up, and I can't blame him. And it wasn't Fontes getting canned that did it... It was our BS front office.

your wrong on the players, lions had hartings until 2000. it was kevin glover who was essentially done and who they replaced with mike compton who had a solid career and was better than glover was at the end of his. barry was wrong - the Lions made the playoffs in the season following his immediate and undisclosed departure. they could have been very good that season with him but he quit. he gave no speech such as the one you have quoted, he simply disappeared. he disregarded bobby ross the entire offseason. im sorry, we all love barry bc he was such a great player but his humble, innocent persona just isnt so

April 27th, 2013, 2:38 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

The Legend wrote:

wjb21ndtown wrote:

The Legend wrote:

regularjoe12 wrote:

The Legend wrote:

rao wrote:

With his kid playing in college it can't hurt to put your name out there and make sure people have you on the mind when your son is trying to make a career.

maybe but i think the name says it all when it comes to barry sanders jr. i think reg joe might be on the right track. maybe barry wants to get some facetime so he s more identifiable for endorsements, and possibly for the ladies...

I think you're reading too deep into it. Rao may be right about publicity for jr, but I think it's more about "empty nest" more than anything else. To the best of my knowledge he never became a business owner, or founded any major charities, now that there is nothing at home, why not go out more and live up the glory days? At this point I see it as more of something for him to do, than raise any publicity.

We're talking about a guy who drove to practice in an old powder blue POS ford tempo hatchback well into his 4th year of his career! Lol he's never been a " for me" kind of guy.

thats what you think but he retired bc he was pissed off at the front office for letting certain guys that didnt have much left go and for finally canning wayne fontes. he faxed his retirement to some newspaper in kansas city and left for london the night before training camp. i dont care about his words, his actions indicate he s not so innocent.

You think he was wrong for giving up on an inept organization?

I wouldn't say that Jeff Hartings "didn't have much left...."

His words when he retired were "we're not offensive minded, we're not defensive minded... I don't know what we are..." He was fed up, and I can't blame him. And it wasn't Fontes getting canned that did it... It was our BS front office.

your wrong on the players, lions had hartings until 2000. it was kevin glover who was essentially done and who they replaced with mike compton who had a solid career and was better than glover was at the end of his. barry was wrong - the Lions made the playoffs in the season following his immediate and undisclosed departure. they could have been very good that season with him but he quit. he gave no speech such as the one you have quoted, he simply disappeared. he disregarded bobby ross the entire offseason. im sorry, we all love barry bc he was such a great player but his humble, innocent persona just isnt so

Glover was the guy that Barry was pissed about, but letting Hartings go shows how inept our front office was. We trotted out a HORRIBLE OL for years, with guys like Semple leading the way for our Pro-Bowl running back. That's pathetic.

Barry did say the quote I mentioned, about 6 months or so after he retired. It wasn't a "speech" it was a response to a reporter asking him why he retired, and that was in fact his answer.

April 27th, 2013, 3:04 pm

regularjoe12

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: March 30th, 2006, 12:48 amPosts: 4180Location: Davison Mi

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

The Legend wrote:

wjb21ndtown wrote:

The Legend wrote:

regularjoe12 wrote:

The Legend wrote:

rao wrote:

With his kid playing in college it can't hurt to put your name out there and make sure people have you on the mind when your son is trying to make a career.

maybe but i think the name says it all when it comes to barry sanders jr. i think reg joe might be on the right track. maybe barry wants to get some facetime so he s more identifiable for endorsements, and possibly for the ladies...

I think you're reading too deep into it. Rao may be right about publicity for jr, but I think it's more about "empty nest" more than anything else. To the best of my knowledge he never became a business owner, or founded any major charities, now that there is nothing at home, why not go out more and live up the glory days? At this point I see it as more of something for him to do, than raise any publicity.

We're talking about a guy who drove to practice in an old powder blue POS ford tempo hatchback well into his 4th year of his career! Lol he's never been a " for me" kind of guy.

thats what you think but he retired bc he was pissed off at the front office for letting certain guys that didnt have much left go and for finally canning wayne fontes. he faxed his retirement to some newspaper in kansas city and left for london the night before training camp. i dont care about his words, his actions indicate he s not so innocent.

You think he was wrong for giving up on an inept organization?

I wouldn't say that Jeff Hartings "didn't have much left...."

His words when he retired were "we're not offensive minded, we're not defensive minded... I don't know what we are..." He was fed up, and I can't blame him. And it wasn't Fontes getting canned that did it... It was our BS front office.

your wrong on the players, lions had hartings until 2000. it was kevin glover who was essentially done and who they replaced with mike compton who had a solid career and was better than glover was at the end of his. barry was wrong - the Lions made the playoffs in the season following his immediate and undisclosed departure. they could have been very good that season with him but he quit. he gave no speech such as the one you have quoted, he simply disappeared. he disregarded bobby ross the entire offseason. im sorry, we all love barry bc he was such a great player but his humble, innocent persona just isnt so

He didn't give a speech, he wrote a frickren book! And I understand the disappointment on how he left, but Barry was very much correct in his reasons for being pissed at the organization. After 93 they did almost nothing to put a line in front of him. He didn't run east-west all the time because it was fun! It was because he had to due to defensive penetrationon damn near every play. When they canned glover, he was the last guy he felt gave him any kind of protection.the f.o. Just figured since he could escape so well, why get blockers. It was pretty pathetic. You can't hate on a guy too bad for saying " screw you, I'm not getting killed for you" when they did very little to protect him.

How many times have you heard "I'd like to see the yards Barry would have gotten behind the Dallas line"? Think about that for a minute and tell me you wouldn't be pissed if you were in his shoes.

_________________2013 Lionbacker Fantasy Football Champion

April 27th, 2013, 4:12 pm

Growler

Div 1 - Starter

Joined: April 8th, 2010, 3:24 pmPosts: 581

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

I can understand Barry's frustration. Why wouldn't an elite player be frustrated to be a part of the Lions for his entire career? I would imagine that Calvin Johnson pretty much feels the same way. At least Barry got to play in a couple playoff games.

April 27th, 2013, 5:11 pm

JL

Div 1 - Starter

Joined: December 13th, 2005, 2:09 pmPosts: 536

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

The Legend wrote:

LioneeR wrote:

The best part of all of this for me is that I have gotten a chance to see more of Barry's personality. I was too young to follow him as a person during his career.

He seems like a great guy. His playing days speak for themselves.

I think its very strange that Barry is showing his face in public so much. Im not sure whats going on with him but it seems like he misses the spotlight. This from a player that was always perceived as humble but behind the scenes wasnt happy with front office moves, coaching changes, no showed minicamps, demonstrated no leadership, etc. I think there is a lot more to Barry's personality than fans really know.

I don't think he misses the spotlight, it's just a natural process. Heck, the guy disappeared to London for something like five years after he retired. It might also be that once he started getting "out there" in public, the reaction of the fans sort of surprised him, and he liked it. That might have helped him open up.

_________________If God isn't a Lions fan, then why is the sky Honolulu Blue?

April 28th, 2013, 10:52 am

Killwill25

Rookie Player of the Year

Joined: March 5th, 2009, 8:42 pmPosts: 2411Location: Brooklyn, NY

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

barry is probably the most popular player to play. it seems like everyone loves him. i will forever be grateful to him for retiring instead of playing for another team

_________________Just one Super Bowl win before I go!

April 28th, 2013, 2:29 pm

The Legend

HC – Jim Caldwell

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4699Location: WSU

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

Killwill25 wrote:

barry is probably the most popular player to play. it seems like everyone loves him. i will forever be grateful to him for retiring instead of playing for another team

imagine calvin johnson retires via fax the night before training camp is set to start and the lions go on to make the playoffs but lose in the first round? you are going to love him forever? i think not.

April 28th, 2013, 6:40 pm

LionsAllDay

National Champion

Joined: July 3rd, 2012, 2:06 amPosts: 876

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

The Legend wrote:

Killwill25 wrote:

barry is probably the most popular player to play. it seems like everyone loves him. i will forever be grateful to him for retiring instead of playing for another team

imagine calvin johnson retires via fax the night before training camp is set to start and the lions go on to make the playoffs but lose in the first round? you are going to love him forever? i think not.

I wasn't watching football when he retired, but I studied that Lions team and they were a hell of a unit. Great special teams, Germane Crowell was amazing, QB play was OK, and the defense allowed just 20 points a game.

barry is probably the most popular player to play. it seems like everyone loves him. i will forever be grateful to him for retiring instead of playing for another team

imagine calvin johnson retires via fax the night before training camp is set to start and the lions go on to make the playoffs but lose in the first round? you are going to love him forever? i think not.

I wasn't watching football when he retired, but I studied that Lions team and they were a hell of a unit. Great special teams, Germane Crowell was amazing, QB play was OK, and the defense allowed just 20 points a game.

Should Barry have played, do you think that was a SB team?

Hell no it wasn't a SB team. I was watching then, and that team was most definitely not a "hell of a unit". I don't know where you get Germaine Crowell being amazing from, because he was nothing special. The year barry retired was his only good year, and it wasn't that great. 81 catches, 1300 yds, 7 tds. Solid #s for sure, but nothing extraordinary. Also his production completely dropped off after that year and he was out of football shortly after that. Regarding your note about the D: is 20 pts/game supposed to be good? I just looked it up and they were the 14th ranked defense in pts allowed that year. That's nothing special. It's decidedly average.

Bottom line, that team was decent, but they weren't going to the SB, even with Barry.

_________________"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson

April 28th, 2013, 11:03 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

Touchdown Jesus wrote:

Shotty wrote:

The Legend wrote:

Killwill25 wrote:

barry is probably the most popular player to play. it seems like everyone loves him. i will forever be grateful to him for retiring instead of playing for another team

imagine calvin johnson retires via fax the night before training camp is set to start and the lions go on to make the playoffs but lose in the first round? you are going to love him forever? i think not.

I wasn't watching football when he retired, but I studied that Lions team and they were a hell of a unit. Great special teams, Germane Crowell was amazing, QB play was OK, and the defense allowed just 20 points a game.

Should Barry have played, do you think that was a SB team?

Hell no it wasn't a SB team. I was watching then, and that team was most definitely not a "hell of a unit". I don't know where you get Germaine Crowell being amazing from, because he was nothing special. The year barry retired was his only good year, and it wasn't that great. 81 catches, 1300 yds, 7 tds. Solid #s for sure, but nothing extraordinary. Also his production completely dropped off after that year and he was out of football shortly after that. Regarding your note about the D: is 20 pts/game supposed to be good? I just looked it up and they were the 14th ranked defense in pts allowed that year. That's nothing special. It's decidedly average.

Bottom line, that team was decent, but they weren't going to the SB, even with Barry.

If I'm not mistaking Crowell had a bad leg injury that really effected his speed. He and Herman were a very good 1-2 combo. I liked the D of those years too, but our CBs were always lacking and we NEVER had an offensive line.

IMO the OL is the single most important unit on the team, and it's the reason we've sucked for over a decade.

April 28th, 2013, 11:07 pm

The Legend

HC – Jim Caldwell

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4699Location: WSU

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

Shotty wrote:

The Legend wrote:

Killwill25 wrote:

barry is probably the most popular player to play. it seems like everyone loves him. i will forever be grateful to him for retiring instead of playing for another team

imagine calvin johnson retires via fax the night before training camp is set to start and the lions go on to make the playoffs but lose in the first round? you are going to love him forever? i think not.

I wasn't watching football when he retired, but I studied that Lions team and they were a hell of a unit. Great special teams, Germane Crowell was amazing, QB play was OK, and the defense allowed just 20 points a game.

Should Barry have played, do you think that was a SB team?

Im not sure about Super Bowl but it really was one of the better teams Barry would have played on had he stayed on. Offensively, they had Morton/Crowell and Sloan. Sloan, was finally healthy and still had ridiculous speed for a TE (esp at that time). In later years Sloan was no longer dependable but he was a weapon in '99. Crowell had an outstanding 2nd season and was fast becoming a star. OL was just average but Barry was never someone who truly needed a Dallas Cowboys type OL. The defensive front 7 was very good and they were decent at S with Carrier and Ron Rice. Fair and Westbrook were the corners but werent great. The team had injuries and was in shambles by the time the playoffs rolled around but a Hall of Fame runner can make a big difference - particularly in keeping Qbs healthy and defenses off balance. Nevertheless, the team was talented and defeated all 4 of the division winning teams that it played that season (splitting w TB), including defeating the eventual Super Bowl champion Rams.

April 29th, 2013, 12:06 am

MobiusOne

Pop Warner Vet

Joined: March 1st, 2010, 1:45 amPosts: 111Location: Stillwater, OK

Re: Barry Sanders Madden cover

regularjoe12 wrote:

The Legend wrote:

rao wrote:

With his kid playing in college it can't hurt to put your name out there and make sure people have you on the mind when your son is trying to make a career.

maybe but i think the name says it all when it comes to barry sanders jr. i think reg joe might be on the right track. maybe barry wants to get some facetime so he s more identifiable for endorsements, and possibly for the ladies...

I think you're reading too deep into it. Rao may be right about publicity for jr, but I think it's more about "empty nest" more than anything else. To the best of my knowledge he never became a business owner, or founded any major charities, now that there is nothing at home, why not go out more and live up the glory days? At this point I see it as more of something for him to do, than raise any publicity.

We're talking about a guy who drove to practice in an old powder blue POS ford tempo hatchback well into his 4th year of his career! Lol he's never been a " for me" kind of guy.

He owns a Hyundai dealership in Stillwater where I had the pleasure of meeting him as a senior in college. I wore my Wichita North Barry Sanders high school jersey when I met him and he instantly recognized it. It was a great conversation starter and we chit chatted back and forth I told him what a fan I was of him and how much he means to both OSU fans and Lion fans. His personality was everything I thought it would be he, was a great guy and it was something I'll never forget meeting my childhood hero and being 3 inches taller than him. I specifically asked him if he ever read his fan mail and he said occasionally mostly it was handled by someone else because I remember writing a letter to him in elementary school and actually getting a letter back. Not surprising of a man with his popularity he wouldn't remember my 3rd grade poorly written letter to him haha. Unfortunately my first Lions was the year he retired I went to the silver dome with my dad and cousin on Christmas eve to watch Terrell Davis tear Detroit a new one.